1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to lamps for vehicles and vehicle-related applications. More particularly, it relates to a vehicle lamp configuration capable of achieving an improved design by use of a transparent cover lens that raises patterns that shine radially near the rim of the cover lens and that use light from an LED lamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional vehicle lamp includes an incandescent bulb located almost at the center of an emission surface of the lamp, and a reflective surface provided for the incandescent bulb in the emission surface. A recess is formed in the reflective surface concentrically surrounding the incandescent bulb. LED lamps are located in the recess. The recess also serves as a reflector for the LED lamps.
When driving at night, the incandescent bulb is normally turned on to serve as a tail lamp and, when a brake is employed, the LED lamps are turned on to serve as a stop lamp. Thus, the fast-response LED lamps are employed in a high-emergency on/off use and the slow-response incandescent bulb is employed such that it is normally on to improve safety.
In addition, the LED lamps can be located around the incandescent bulb, and can turn on/off every time the brake is operated. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a new design that is not found in the art, and it is also possible to achieve a lower cost for the lamp than a similar lamp produced with all LED lamps (see JP-A 2003-187613).
The conventional vehicle lamp configured as above makes it possible to provide a new design. The LED lamps serving as the stop lamp are contained in part of the design. Accordingly, for example, the recess with the LED lamps located therein can not shine when the brake is not operated and shines when the brake is operated. Therefore, there is a problem associated with poor design uniformity.
The above configuration is intended to achieve a decoration effect using the function of indicating the vehicle condition such as blinking of the stop lamp. Accordingly, depending on the desired design, the stop lamp, for example, may possibly be interpreted as being provided simply for the purpose of decoration. In such a case, braking of the vehicle is overlooked. Thus, there is another problem because the original purpose (brake indication) can not be achieved.